It is reported this week that the Norfolk Rivers Trust is using a pollution solution including buffer strips and silt traps to help curb run-off from a 1,000-pig farm in West Acre, Norfolk.

The sediment run-off came from an outdoor pig unit. During heavy rainfall events, suspended sediment came off the field and onto a track before eventually finding its way into drains that feed the River Nar – an ecologically important silt stream.

Minor preventative measures such as 6m tussocky field margins and an area of woodland had been put in place, but further measures were required when the run-off continued.

Using grant funding from the Water Sensitive Farming initiative, the Trust has installed buffer strips, two silt traps, and undertaken track restoration work.

The traps capture and slow down the polluted run-off. The buffer strips also reduce run-off and provide an extra habitat. The track restoration work has involved hump and cross drain construction that traps run-off and sediments, the latter of which can then be used on the farm.

Read the Norfolk Rivers Trust story here.